Wilber School Redevelopment Committee

 Meeting Minutes for August 21st, 2006

Approved August 28th, 2006

 

Committee Attendees

David DePree  - Chair

Bob Levin

Michael Baskin

Marcia Liebman

Craig Edwards

Melissa Mills

David Gordon

Joel Tran

Marilyn Kahn

 

 

Guests

David Deitz

Ed Hershfield

Phil Kopel

Greg Waugh

Richard Gorden - Realtor

Herbert Gould   - Summit Avenue

Ben Monat—Boy Scouts

 

 

Meeting Initiation

Meeting was called to order at 7:30 pm by David DePree.

 

Meeting discussion

1.      Introduction of New Members

v      On August 15, the Board of Selectmen added Ed Hershfield, Phil Kopel, David Dietz and Greg Waugh to the WSRC. As none had yet had the opportunity to be sworn in by the Town Clerk (they only today received legal notification), they attended tonight’s meeting as non-voting guests.  

 

2.      Meeting Minutes

v      Tran/Gordon moved to approve 7/31 meeting minutes as amended; approved unanimously.

 

3.      RFP Status

v      Liebman reported there are currently five addenda to the RFP which include the 2 Horsley-Witten reports which had been inadvertently deleted from the website just before the RFP was issued,  the release-of-liability form for the building tour on 7/20, notes from the 7/20 pre-proposal meeting, and response to a submitted question. The following were received last week:

v      Proposed addendum 6 concerned two questions received from the same potential bidder regarding (1) the flexibility of the timeline outlined in the lease agreement section of the RFP and  (2) priority of items to be evaluated, specifically early completion vs. low-income housing. Liebman submitted a draft reply modified from a response received from Stephen Crane. Baskin presented a modification of Liebman’s reply, which was unanimously approved (see attached).

v      Proposed addendum 7 concerned a request for extension of the due date for 2 to 3 weeks. (It was submitted by potential bidder Gordon, who was at the meeting tonight.) Liebman reported that the Inspector General’s office allows a 7 to 10 day extension without re-advertising. Registered bidders must be notified by addendum before RFPs are due and the extension would be posted at our website and the Central Register. Baskin/Liebman expressed concern that the Wilber will be abated shortly, with the roof then exposed to the environment. Any extension would jeopardize our capabilities of selecting a developer and allowing him/her the needed time to cap the building as stated in the RFP. Tran was in agreement and stated that all developers are working under the same schedule and it would not be equitable to them to change the date at this late time. Kahn/Tran moved to extend the RFP deadline 7 days. The motion was defeated (3 pro, 5 con, 1 abstention).

v      Proposed addendum 8 concerned a request for an additional tour. (It was submitted by a bidder who called for a copy of the RFP on the afternoon of 7/20, after the pre-proposal meeting/tour ended.) The committee unanimously felt that this was not viable due to the extreme time constraints.

v      RFP proposals are due on Friday, August 25th at 11am to the BOS office. At that time, they will be opened and the name and contact information of the bidder will be read into the public record. Liebman, Kahn and DePree will attend. Paul Fitzgerald, from Town Counsel, told Liebman that no legal counsel was required at the bid opening. Hershfield recommended that counsel review the proposals to identify missing material which would legally cause the bid to be eliminated. Liebman will contact Fitzgerald. Arrangements have been made to hold all checks received in the Town vault.

v      Copies of the proposals will be left at the Fire Station for pickup by the committee members over the weekend. Picture ID will be needed.

v      Baskin iterated that the WSRC needs to continue to work with other committees regarding the RFP. He suggested it is possible to get non-viable proposals; the accepted proposal needs to offer a significant benefit to the town.

v      Although the Selectmen are sponsoring the warrant at the November Town Meeting to allow them to enter into a long-term lease with the selected developer, the WSRC will actively support the warrant and will be prepared to make a presentation.

 

4.      Other Business

v      Mr. Gould asked for an explanation of the WSRC responsibilities. Tran explained that the WSRC is an advisory Board to the Selectmen. The committee is given the authority to issue the RFP, determine if there is a proposal that is advantageous to the town, and present the results to the Selectmen. In response to another question by Mr. Gould, Tran explained that Town Counsel had reviewed the RFP before it was issued and remains an active part of this process and that the BOS is kept up to date.

 

Next Meeting

 August 28th, 7:30 PM, Town Hall  

 

Meeting Adjournment

Baskin/Edwards moved to adjourn at 8:50 pm; passed unanimously.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Rachelle F. Levitts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wilber Site RFP (June 2006)

Addendum # 6

August 21, 2006

 

 

The following were received in the past week from potential bidders:

 

Question: How flexible is the Town in changing the timeline outlined in the Lease Agreement Terms?

 

Reply: If a developer/bidder chooses to pursue LIHTC or other programs that may require a change in the timeline or terms of the lease as set forth in the RFP, this should be identified in the proposal.

 

Question: Which takes higher priority: early completion or low-income housing?

 

Reply: The criteria are not weighted against each other. The importance of one criterion over another will be determined by means of the Town’s review and ranking of each submission as described in the RFP. It shall be the responsibility of each developer/bidder to determine what he/she thinks is most important and submit the proposal based on that.

 

Question: Is it possible to extend the 8/25 deadline for 2 to 3 weeks?

 

Reply: The RFP for abatement of the Wilber School is due on 8/24. It includes abatement only and leaves the building unsealed. Their projected completion date is the end of November, at which time the developer awarded this RFP needs to be ready to seal the building (see RFP, page 4, section IIIA). With this in mind, the committee voted not to extend the deadline.

 

Question: Can another tour be scheduled?

 

Reply: Given the amount of lead time needed to notify all parties (both developers and town employees), the committee believed that the tour could not be scheduled until too late to be effectively useful to developers and instead refers interested parties to the website (see RFP, page 16 on how to access and then look under “Images”) for pictures taken in November 2005 and to the Sharon Advocate website at www.sharonadvocate.com for a slide show of the July 20, 2006 tour.

 

Question: Are record plans and elevations available?

 

Reply: On the Wilber School Redevelopment Committee website (see the RFP, page 16), access the document “Wilber Reuse Study Part I Phase B Feasibility”, which is found under the group heading “Final Wilber School Reuse Study—August 2006”. Page 11 shows the building footprint, pages 15-17 show the floor plans of each level, and page 18 shows the exterior elevations.